Sad-iron.



H. W. FOSTER & L. C. HILL.

SAD IRON. APPLICATION FILED MAY I3, 1912. RENEWED IAN. 6, 1915.

1,149,748. Patented Aug. 10, 1915.`

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

CDLUMBIA PLANOGRAPM CUuWAsHlNGTOIL D. E.

H. W. FOSTER & L. C. HILL'.

, SAD IRON. APPLICATION FILED MAY13, 1912. RENEWED IAN. 6.1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Aug. 10, 1915.

5% n Il I l II- I.ilIIII COLUMBIA WRAP CD-,WASHINm-N. D. C.

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lllEIABIRFSZ'IV/ FOSTER AND LYAL HILL, OF NEW'ARK', NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO or` new amasar.

Specification of Letters Patenti SAD-IRON.-

Patented. Aug. io, reis.

Application filed May`13,.1812,fseral No..696,943. Renewed January 6, 1915. SeriaLNo. S69.

.-. have invented` certain new and useful Imgniovements in Sad-Irons, and. we do, de.- clare the following. to. be a full, true, and exact description of the said inventionf,. such as will' enableA others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomale. use ofthe same.

l"hisinvention relates to a form of heated tool .inJ which heat is being. applied while'the tool is in use, and more particularly to a form of sad-iron, in which the iron is heated by an inflammable fluid, preferably alcohol, which is preferably supplied from a reservoir attachedto the iron.V 1 f One of the diliiculties in the usual form of sad-irons, in which the heat is applied to the surface in use, is that the heat, having a tendency to rise, is carried with. great diliiculty to the werking surface. This is particularly true of a burner in which the gas for the flame isfnotunder pressure. `We

' obviate this diiliculty by providing. a doublefaced iron, o1. one having two working faces,

and arrange ourheaterbetwee'n thev faces in suchl a manner that one of'them, above the burner, is being. heated while the other, below the burner, is in use, and we further provide devices by which,l when theface in use becomes cool, the heated face may be brought into operative position and the cool face into heating position. To enableY either of thefaces to be brought into operative position, we have devised a simple form of handle and locking device therefor. Y w

lVhile many features of our inventionr are useful in a .tool heated in any manner,r we prefer to use aV burner in the interiory thereof to which aslightly volatile fuel, such as alcohol, can be supplied after being vaporized by the-heat from the burner, although we do not ,wish to be limited asl to the kind of fuel to be used. With a fuel like alcohol, it has been usual topass the alcohol through a pipe adjacent tothe burner so that the alcohol becomes vaporized by the heat of the burner, and this vapor, passingfinto a Bunsen burner, supplies heat to volatilize more alcohol and to heatv the tool. This usually involves an arrangement by which the source of fuel sup-ply is on one sideof the burner and 'the apparatus in which the vair is mixed with vapor is ,onl the opposite side of the burner. For some forms of tools, and particularly sad-irons, it is desirable that the fuel reservoir and the air mixing device shall be oni the same side of the burner and we have. arranged our device to that end. We have also provided. va highly eiiicient vaporizing chamber through gwhich the liquid is carried by a tube before being fed tothe vaporizing chamber, the vapor from this chamber being. taken. out at the end opposite` to thatv to.- which the. alcohol is fed. This not onlyprovidesai compact and simple arrangement, but wev find that the flame is more steady and uniform. We have also provided an arrangement by which the burner, reservoir, and all. the connections between them may be readily removed from the iron,.if desired,and a reservoir in which the possibilities of leakage` or evaporation are pnevented when. the iron is not in use.

With this and other objects in view, we have devised a sad-iron having a vsimple and eflicient construction and. arrangement of parts as will. be more fully described and pointedV out inthe appendedA claims.

ln the drawings, Figure 1* represents a side elevation of the form: of fiat iron which lwe have selected .for purposes of illustration. Fig. 2 is a. front elevation. of the iron, looking toward the-turning handle in Fig. Fig. 3 is anelevation of the iron, looking. toward the reservoir in Fig. l. Fig. i' is a longitudinal. section of our heater comprising a. burner anda reservoir, as adapted particularly for use with alcohol and having our preferred? formv of burner. Fig. 5 is ay sectional planon the line 5 5 of Fig. Ll.

Fig. 6 isy a side elevation of an alternative foi-rm of burner which lwe have founduseful. Fig. E is a section. ofFigJ on the line 7 7. Fig. 8 isa section of Fig. fi on the line 8-8. The corresponding parts are referred to both. in the drawings. andthe following description by similarreference characters.

Referring now particularly to Fig. l, l0 represents thebody of the sad-iron having working faces 1ly and. l2. The iron is provided with a projection 13 in the form of a trunnion at its front end and a hollow projection l14, also in the form of a trunnion at its rear end. This trunnion 14 may be formeddirectly on the iron 10, but we prefer to makeit part of a plate 10a attached to the-rear of the body l0. hollow, as shown, and the opening in the The iron is trunnion 14 connects with the hollow of the iron. The body 1() is provided with a series of openings 15 to permit the escape of the products of combustion, and also with an elongated hole 16 at the rear of the iron, preferably in each of the side walls thereof. rl'he iron 10 isalso provided in its rear wall with elongated openings 17. The holes 16 and 17 are mainly for the purpose of allowing air to enter the iron and the hole 16 also provides for the lighting of the burner, as will be more fully described hereafter.y 18 and 19 are plates pivotally mounted on the 'trunnions 13 and 14 respectively, and are connected together by a flat plate 2O which serves to hold the plates 18 and 19 in proper relation and also serves as a shield to prevent the heat from the iron striking the hand of the operator on the grip 21, which is also fastened to the plates 18 and 19. The plates 18, 19 and 20 and the grip 21constitute an operating handle for the iron 10, this handle being pivotally mounted on the trunnions 13 and 14. The plate 19 has a projection 22 to which is attached a member of the heater, as will be more fully described hereafter.

.4 portion of the projection or trunnion 13 beyondk the plate 18 is flattened, as shown particularly in Fig. 2, and a turning handle 23 is pivotally mounted on the pin 24 on this flattened projection, a portion of the handle contacting with each face of the flattened portion to take the strain from the pin 24 when the iron 10 is turned. The handle 23 is in its normal position in Figs. 1 and 2 and in` this position lies between a pair of projections 25-25 on the plate 18 and also between a pair of spring projections 26-26,

also on the plate 18. As will be obvious, the

turning handle 23 may be turned on the pivot 24 away' from the handle 21, thus removing it from between the projections 25-25 and from the spring projections 26-26. llVhen it is thus swung outward, it may be turned as indicated in Fig. 2, and

. since it is connected to a portion of the iron 10, the iron may be turned on its trunnions 13 and 14 until the handle 23 is diametrically opposite its full line position in Fig. 2. The iron 10 will then have been turned 180 degrees and the face 11 will be down and the face 12 up. The handle 23 will then be swung on its pin 24 to its normal position, as shown in Fig. 1, being snapped between the spring projections 26 to hold it in place. rIhe iron 10 is now located in its new position with the working face 11 down.` When it is desired to bring the working face 12 down again, the operation is repeated, the handle 23 being first moved out from between the projections 26 and then used as a lever to rotate the iron 10, when the handle is again snapped between the projections 26. It is obvious that this form of reversible iron and the simple form of turning han# dle which we have provided may be used with any form of heater to which heat is supplied either by electricity, or gas,-or from liquid fuel. In our preferred form of iron,

n and the cap 32 on a tube 39, these caps being held in place by nuts 37 and 38. The tube 36 is threaded at its upper end for the nut 37 and also for a wing nut 40, to which is at tached a rod 41 tapered at its lower end and arranged to engage with a seat in the member 39 to form a needle valve. The tube 36 has an air vent or aperture at 42, another air vent at 43 and a feed opening at 44, 43 and 44 being located inside of the reservoir 30, and 42 being outside of the reservoir; The opening 42 is so located that it is covered by the wing nut when the needle 41 is screwed down on its valve seat in the member 39. l/Vhenthe nut 40 is turned to open the needle valve, the air vent 42 is uncovered at the same time. When it is desired to allow the alcohol to feed from the reservoir 30, the nut 40 is turned to 4open the needle valve. The fluid passes fromI the reservoir through the opening 44 into the tube 36 and from thence through the member 39. At the same time, air passes through the opening 42 and the tube 36' to the opening 43 and through that to the reservoir 30. When the needle valve 41 is closed and with it the air vent 42, the reservoir 30 isclosed so that no alcohol can escape either by running out or by evaporation. The lower end of the member 39 is screwed into an elbow 45 provided with a cap 46 at one end. A pipe 47 is attached to the elbow and also to a member 48. This member 48 has a tube 49 threaded therein asshown and also a tube concentric with and inside of 49 and also threaded into the member 48 in continuation with the tube 47. The tube 49 is also threaded into and closed by, a casting 51. The tube 50 does not extend throughout the tube 49, but stops short of the end thereof, as shown in Fig. 4. The member 48 is provided with a series of ducts, as shown, leading from the inner end ofthe tube 49 to an aperture 52 and is provided with a needle valve 53 having a handle 54, this needle valve being arranged to cut off communication between the tube 49 and the opening 52 when screwed down on its seat.' This constitutes a regulating means for the vapor passing from the tube 49 to the opening 52. 55 is a tube threaded into the casting 51, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and having its open end adjacent to the opening 52. The casting 51 is provided with a chamber 56 communicating with the ends of tubes 55, 57 and 58, the tubes 57 and 58 being closed at one end and provided with burner openings 59 in the top and bottom thereof. 60 is a metallic iiller made up of a series of wires held loosely together.l

1n operation with the burners 57 and 58 lighted, the alcohol is fed through the opening 39, as explained above, and passes through the elbow 45 and the tube 47 to the end of thetube 50. As the alcohol returns through the tube 49, it is heated by the burners 57. and 58 and converted into a vapor under pressure. This vapor passes through the ducts in the member 48, past the needle valve 53`to the opening 52. At this point, it is injected into the tube 55, being mixed with air as it' passes from the opening 52. The

vapor passes through the tube 55 to theV chamber 56 and from there to the burners 57 and 5S and out of the burner openings. We prefer to pass the pipe 50 through the tube 49, instead of outside the tube 49, because of the greater ei'liciency in operation and the increased steadiness of the flame, the vaporn izing of the alcohol in the chamber 49 apparently servingto keep the feed pipe 50 cool enough so that no vaporizing takes place therein, the alcohol consequently being delivered to the farther end of the chamber 49 as a liquid. iVhile we prefer to use the `form of double burner illustrated in Figs. 4

and 5, this exact arrangement is by no means essential. \For instance we may use the arrangement shown in Figs. (i and 7, in which the burner has a single chamber (i1 situated directly beneath the vaporizing chamber 49.

Referring now to Fig. 1, it will be seen that our complete heater', which, in the form which we have chosen for the purpose of illustration, is composed of a burner and a fuel reservoir, is suspended by attaching it to the member 22 and also by suspending it on a pivot G2 in the front end ofthe iron. The axis of this pivot lies in the axes of the trunnions 13 and 14. The member 22 is slotted so as to embrace the eXteriorly threaded portion ofthe nut 37 and the wing nut 63 is provided to clamp the member 22 between it and the lower flange portion of the nut 37. By the arrangement shown, the heater may be removed from the iron by loosening the nut 63 and turning the heater sidewise on the pivot 62 until the nut. 37 is disengaged from the slot in themember 22. Then the burner may be removed from the iron by drawing it backward through the hole in the trunnion 14.

To operate our sad-iron, the parts being 'shown and described.

in the position shown in Fig. l, the wing nut 40 is first turned to open the vent 42 and the valve 41. The alcohol then passes through the feed pipe 50 and back through the vaporizing chamber 49, past the needle valve 53 which has been opened, and finally through the aperture 52. The burner not being lighted at this time, the alcohol, in liquid form, will drop to the bottom of the iron 10, where it is ignited through one of the openings 16.y This alcohol, burning around the incoming supply, gradually starts the vaporizing of the new supply until suiiicient pressure is generated to blow the vapor through the tube' 55 and out of the holes 59 in the burners 57 and 58. This vapor then becomes ignited and the handle 54 is turned until the proper flame is obtained. Most of the heat thus generated will be absorbed by the upper portion of the iron andthe face 11 will iinally become hot enough to use. The handle 23 is then moved as described above and the face 11 broughtv down to operative position, and the face 12 brought up to heating position. While the face 11 is in use, the burner supplies heat to the face 12 until the operator desires that face to be brought to operative position. `Vhen the operator is finished with the iron, thewing nut 40 is turned to 'close the valve 4l and the vent 42, and since these are the only openings from the reservoir to the air, it is obvious that all possibility of evaporation or leakage is out off.

YWhile we have illustrated our invention in its preferred form, it is obvious that many of its features may be carried out effectively by other means and that many of its features may be used without others 1t is also obvious that many features of our invention may be used in forms of self-heating tools other than sad-irons and, in fact, while we have described and illustrated a sad-iron, it is obvious that our invention is not limited to this specific form, it being obvious that it maybe embodied in any self-heating tool, particularly in one in which it is desirable to have a plurality of Working faces, one of.

which is being used while another is being heated.

Having now described our invention,what we claim is:

1. A hollowvdouble-faced iron, a handle pivotally mounted thereon, a heater for said iron comprising a burner, a fuel reservoir and connections therebetween, said burner being located in said iron, and said reservoir outside thereof, one end of said heater having a pivotal connection with the interior of said iron and at the front end thereofv` said handle being provided with member having an open sided slot therein extending in a direction at right angles to the axis of said handle, said heater being constructed and arranged to permit a portion thereof to be moved into and out of said slot When said heater is rotated on said pivotal connection.

2. A hollow double-faced iron, a handle pivotally mounted thereon, a heater for said iron comprising a burner, a fuel reservoir and connections therebetween, said burner being located in said iron, and said reservoir outside thereof, one end of said heater having a pivotal connection with the interior of said iron and at the front end thereof, said handle being provided With a member having an open sided slot therein extending in a direction at right angles to the axis of said handle, said heater being constructed and arranged to permit a portion thereof to be moved into and out of said slot when said heater is rotated on said pivotal connection, and means to connect said heater detachably to said slotted member.

3. A hollow iron having a handle pivotallv attached thereto at its front and rear ends, a member pivotally attached to the interior of said iron at its front end, a burner tube attached to said member and extending rearwardly, a vaporizing chamber attached to said member and extending rearwardly above said burner tube, a second member attached to said vaporizing chamber and located in the interior of said iron at its rear end, said second member being provided with ducts to conduct vapor from said vaporizing chamber to said burner tube, means to supply a fluid to said vaporizing chamber, said means being attached to said second member and connected to said handle at its rear end.

4. A hollow double-faced iron, a handle pivotally mounted thereon, a heater for said iron including a burner, and a portion of said heater being located outside said iron, one end of said heater having a pivotal connection with the interior of said iron and at the front end thereof, said handle being provided With a member having an open sided slot therein extending in a direction at right angles to the axis of said handle, said heater being constructed and arranged to permit a portion thereof to be moved into and out of said slot When said heater is rotated on said pivotal connection.

5. A hollow double-faced iron, a handle pivotally mounted thereon, a heater for said iron including a burner, said burner being locatedin said iron, and a portion of said heater being located outside said iron, one end of said heater having a pivotal connection With the interior of said iron and at the front end thereof, said handle being provided With a member having an open sided slot therein extending in a direction at right angles to the axis of said handle, said heater being constructed and arranged to permit a portion thereof to be moved into and out of said slot when said heater is rotated on said pivotal n connection, and means to connect said heater detachably to said slotted member.

HARRY W. FOSTER. LOYAL C. HILL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for' ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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